Tue, 10 May 2005

Right now, if you attempt to purchase labor for a price lower than
the
minimum wage, that is illegal. Interestingly, though, if you
attempt to sell labor
for a price lower than the minimum wage, that is not illegal.
Contrast this with drugs, where both buyer and seller are at risk.

There is another comment on that blog page that points out that the
minimum wage is racist. The jobs that the minimum wage eliminates are
disproportionately minority jobs. Why? Well, given the fact of
racist employers, the minimum wage makes it possible for them to hire
their preferred white employees with no penalty. Absent the minimum
wage, another employer could pay blacks a lower wage. This would let
them out-compete the racist employers. While one can regret the fact
that racism incents even non-racists to pay blacks less, the mechanism
which naturally causes harm to racists is broken by the minimum wage
law.